기후, 날씨와도 싸워야 했던 일본제국주의, 그리고 식민지민 - 길었던 한 해, 1939년 조선 대가뭄의 양상과 그 여파 -

Abstract

Examined in this article is the 1939 Great famine in Joseon, in terms of climatic factors and other issues related to the ecological environment of the time. Such approach revealed three important points.BR First, the 1939 Great famine seems to have been caused most probably by climatic abnormalities, such as volcanic eruptions or changes in solar spot activities. BR Second, the drought that hit Korea at the time caused significant decrease in Joseon’s rice production, which in turn caused severe food shortage throughout the Empire that also undermined Japan’s war efforts against China. In response, Japanese Imperialism employed many counter measures, focusing on minimizing direct aids, emphasizing self-rehabilitation, and increasing food transports.BR Third, the Joseon people actively responded to the colonial authorities’ policy, and acted in various ways. People in distress tried to secure wages through the public works for drought damage relief, and launched local appeal projects to invite the construction work to their areas. People who were spared from direct damages joined donation campaigns, out of their brethren affection. But there were also other people who resorted to believing in superstitions and rumors, after suffering a long hard time of begging and wandering. Such people who remained indifferent to observing the colonial authorities’ policy continued to become a burden, as the authorities still had to uphold and propagate the slogan notion of ‘Japanese Mainland and Joseon being one.’ BR These three points show us that future historical studies of the Asian-Pacific War period should pay more attention to climatic disasters as an ecological environmental element.